Boundary Waters Trip Reports, Blog, BWCA, BWCAW, Quetico Park

BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog

April 18 2024

Entry Point 23 - Mudro Lake

Mudro Lake entry point allows overnight paddle only. This entry point is supported by Kawishiwi Ranger Station near the city of Ely, MN. The distance from ranger station to entry point is 19 miles. Three accesses into Mudro Lake involve portages ranging from 20–185 rods.Easiest access is from private la nd with parking fee.

Number of Permits per Day: 5
Elevation: 1166 feet
Latitude: 48.0356
Longitude: -91.8301
On the Water- Monday July 20th-
On the water late considering how far we need to go today. Up the Horse river to the falls by 6pm. Started raining and NO campsites available. Mudrow-Alruss-Tin can Mike-Horse Lake-Horse River-Basswood. 13 miles by water. (not counting portages)

Tuesday July 21st-
Rain all night, all morning and all day. Went north by petroglyphs, table rock and the the Crocked Lake Narrows across Thursday bay to campsite. Basswood-Crooked Lake-Wednesday Bay-Thursday Bay. 11 miles in the rain.

Wednesday July 22nd-
Up early and calm winds to take advantage of, considering the big water we have to cross. Found beaver dam to lift over and did a portage from hell between Pandos lake and Chippewa Lake. VERY steep and slippery after rain. Many mud holes. Then the mile portage after Wagosh Lake to Gun Lake. Never saw another soul in a canoe or campsite the entire day! Thursday bay-Friday Bay-Pandos Lake-Chippewa Lake-Wagosh lake-Gun Lake. 11 miles by water.

Thursday July 23rd-
Finally had a dry night. got everything dry!!! A few portages today to Fourtown Lake campsite. Easy day by comparison. Gun Lake-Fairy Lake-Boot Lake-Fourtown Lake. 6 miles. Put the long miles at the first of the week for a buffer for contingencies!

Friday July 24th-
Last day. Stormed last night bad. A few portages today with one bad one between Fourtown Lake and Mudrow lake. To entry point by 1pm. Ready for a hot shower! 4 miles

Total-
45 miles by water
13 miles by portage (3 trips each)
58 miles total.

Pipestone Bay - Basswood Lake

by bgn82
Trip Report

Entry Date: June 13, 2014
Entry Point: Fall Lake
Number of Days: 5
Group Size: 2

Trip Introduction:
Just back from BWCA. Went to Pipestone with one son for 5 days starting 6-13. CRAZY weather. Easy portages with just a bit of mud. Many, many more boats with motors doing their day tripping than canoes. We camped across from Gary Island with a big west facing front. Lousy landing areas. First day was nice weather, not a lot of wind and about 63 degrees. Caught very active smallmouth. That night caught more fish right from the campsite. Day 2, Saturday. COLD, WINDY, RAINY. Very little fishing due to the wind. Day 3, Sunday. Still rain, cold and wind. Late in the afternoon I said we would go out after having some dinner. Within 10 minutes the wind began to roar. Our very nice Coleman tent blew over. We set up a tart but that didn't help much. The wind had to reach 50 MPH gusts right out of the west. The waves were 3 foot if they were an inch. It happened FAST ! We were literally holding the tent down with our feet and hands on the ropes. NO fishing that day! Day 4 was much calmer, caught smallmouth, about 6 small walleye and some pike. Again, your could catch fish from in front of the campsite. At night the wind calmed and Basswood Lake looked like a postcard for Minnesota and BWCA tourism. FLAT and beautiful. I was doing great with a shallow running Shad Rap, Fire Tiger? Lost it to a northern. My son was using a topwater Smithwick ????? silver and black color. He must have caught 30 smallies within an hour and a half. Just one after another, it was like it was made in Hollywood. I was using a floating gold Raplala with some but not as much luck. His lure also had a rattle feature to it. We fished in the bay just south of the campsite, you'll see it on the map. We fished till about 30 minutes past sunset and got a fabulous photo of the skyline that night. Day 5, Tuesday we fished about 3 hours early in the morning, caught a few walleye and about 8 smallmouth and may 3 pike. A long paddle for me even with a fairly calm lake. NOTE: the mosquitoes were the worst since I was with the 82nd Airborne Division on Puerto Rico back in the 60's. BAD, BAD ! That lake has so many fish it is hard to describe. BUT, when the wind and cold take over, it isn't easy in that canoe. We had some leeches and yes the fish did enjoy them. White was a very popular color for artificials during our trip. I can see why guys bust their butts to push big boats and motors over those two portages. All of those boats I think headed up to the Lewis Narrows. This trip was just a reminder that not that many people will ever do these BWCA trips. Way too tough for most folks. We got out late afternoon Tuesday and went back into the South Kawishiwi River with another son and his family the next day. I'll try to get you a report on that one later. Good luck.

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